Betrayal in King Lear - Essay Example

Betrayal in King Lear Among all the plays written by William Shakespeare, the tragedy of King Lear is deservedly considered to be the brightest illustration of betrayal as a key motif threading the whole story. Written in 1605 or 1606 (British Library), the play became a combination and adaptation of almost ancient images and characters cultivating eternal themes familiar for the reader of every epoch. The themes dominating in the play are betrayal and the consequences it might lead to. This is a work filled with deception and bitterness of unfulfilled promises revealing the grievous outcome that might follow children’s abjuring their respect and love towards their parents for the sake of greed and avarice. Focusing on the theme of devotion and betrayal, William Shakespeare chose to deploy it in several story arcs at once, varying it in scale. Betrayal as a recurring theme is present throughout the play, being a thread that connects characters and events incorporated in it. Lear, the elderly king of Britain, is about to resign, and thus wants to pass the prosperous kingdom to one of his daughters who loves him most. Whereas the two elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, choose to flatter and feast the father’s ears with honey words, the youngest daughter, Cordelia, preferred to express love to her father decently and modestly insisting that love must be proved with deeds, not with pleasing words: “I am sure my loves more richer than my tongue” (Shakespeare). The standpoint of the youngest daughter infuriated Lear who loved her most and expected to hear more than he actually did and made him divide the kingdom between Goneril and Regan outcasting Cordelia. This was the turning point that triggered numerous consequences and tragic losses. However, there is a secondary storyline focusing on the tragedy of the earl Gloucester and his sons – Edgar and Edmund. Being a bastard and having morbid ambitions for respectable position and power in Britain, Edmund ventured upon the blatant deception against his father and brother trying to sow discord between them and gain Gloucester’s favor. The overwhelming lies on the side of Goneril, Regand and Edmund results in awful betrayal and deaths. At the same time, it can be seen that the motif of betrayal and its consequences is traced in different situations and levels of narration – from as narrow as a separate family to as wide scale as national affairs. Shakespeare demonstrates the fruits of wickedness “in both the familial and political realms—here, brothers betray brothers and children betray fathers” (SparkNotes). Looking at this theme through the prism of family ties, we first notice how Goneril and Regan betray their father as soon as they get everything they longed for: having gained power and the kingdom, they reveal their heartless nature – the moment when daughters abandon their dear father to his fate provides the fullest evidences of Goneril and Regan’s true feelings about him. Women disown Lear, because they cannot derive any benefit from him anymore – he is just a mere elder. However, to my thinking, Lear himself betrayed his youngest daughter, disowning her and giving preference rather to empty words of praise than to true love and devotion of Cordelia. As a result, he ended up in being powerless and even homeless as a forfeit for his preliminary giving up all his “parental care” and love towards his loyal daughter. The second family broken by betrayal is Gloucester’s one: Edmund, obsessed with ambitions for power and title, deceived his father and brother making them think of him as of a loving son and brother. Edgar, the beloved son of the earl, was cast out, and Edmund got too much power and trust on the side of his father that he later repeated his betrayal shamelessly, ratting out Gloucester to Goneril, Cornwall and Regan. Furthermore, the betrayal on the family scale is illustrated also in the storyline of Goneril and Edmund. These two deceitful people are secretly in love with each other, with Goneril keeping her husband Cornwall unaware. Her marital betrayal reaches the peak when Edgar discovers a letter in the pocket of her dead courier – the letter suggesting Edmund to murder Cornwall and take his place. Moreover, it turns out, that the sisters virtually betrayed each other in their longings – their affection towards Edmund is revealed. Surely, the theme of family betrayal is the most bitter among all. It is painful to be betrayed by a person one knows or considers his/her friend, and the most painful and striking betrayal is committed by our parents or siblings as these are the very last people whom we expect to betray or deceive. The families depicted in the play are the victims of misjudgment – whereas Lear misjudges his daughters, the Earl of Gloucester misjudges his sons – the latter pays with his eyesight, and the former loses sanity. As the play is rather epic and large-scale including massive scenes of battles and military/state affairs, the theme of betrayal is traced even in this aspect. For instance, Goneril and Regan seek to dispose of their old father and treat him cruelly – but if the king is the anointed sovereign, they also betray the people of the kingdom and the confidants of the king like Kent and Gloucester. At the same time, the range of betrayal in the royal family burst out into a considerable international conflict involving British and French troops. Vesting betrayal in this guise, Shakespeare demonstrated that sometimes deception on a small scale might unfold immensely leading to a devastating struggle between evil and good (which probably was paralleled to the struggle between those members of the family who were either righteous or remorseful about the mistakes and those who didn’t learn anything ore showed no remorse. The positive idea conveyed through this tragic story implies that sometimes betrayal might be a tough challenge, and its consequences make an individual learn the bitter lesson and open his/her eyes. It should be also emphasized that there are plenty of recurring ideas and concepts in King Lear – madness, children and parents’ relationships, concepts of justice, nature, and the concept of blindness (RSC). In connection to the theme of betrayal, the most relevant one is the concept of blindness as it discreetly depicts the characters who were bling in the metaphorical sense – Gloucester and Lear. Both the king and the earl were “blinded” by the honey words and flattery of their deceitful children – Regan, Goneril and Edmund – and didn’t see the unpleasant reality behind the pleasing appearance. Moreover, they were too blind to see loyalty of their truly loving children. Furthermore, Gloucester was later physically blinded by Cornwall who torn his eyes out (Jamieson). But, despite physical blindness, he understands that he had misjudged Edgar when Edmund confesses of his betrayal. On the other hand, Lear, “blinded” by madness, doesn’t fail to realize what a mistake he had made. Thus, connecting the motif of betrayal and the recurring concept of blindness, the play teaches us that it isn’t eyes (or ears) that must judge and try people, it is heart that feels who is loyal to you and worth trusting. One more aspect worth to be mentioned in this work is definitely loyalty and devotion as a part of the betrayal motif. Along with malicious and deceitful characters, there are decent, self-sacrificing heroes of the play – for instance, Gloucester in his loyalty to Lear, Edgar and Kent. Gloucester, despite being blind to his illegitimate son’s deception, is a truly devoted man as he chooses not to abandon the king even when the latter lost all his power – moreover, he even loses his eyes because of this devotion. Edgar, in his turn, stays loyal to his father despite the persecutions and doesn’t leave him in trouble. Earl of Kent, too, turns out to be a noble man, being very persistent in his desire to stay with Lear even after he lost all his power. Illustrating betrayal in its different guises, William Shakespeare also gives us a hint that each betrayal could have been avoided as they are all interconnected. At the same time, betrayal is portrayed as both a destructive power and a tough lesson that causes positive changes in people and opens their eyes to the reality. Moreover, it is shown that each betrayer – no matter, good or evil - gets a taste of his/her own medicine, though it might be too late. To my mind, the role of betrayal motif is amplified with help of positive characters displaying devotion and other favorable personal features outlining the horridness of deception. Works Cited: British Library. Shakespeare Quartos, from: http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/kinglear.html Jamieson, Lee. King Lear Themes, from: http://shakespeare.about.com/od/kinglear/a/King-Lear-Themes.htm RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company). Themes in King Lear, from: http://www.rsc.org.uk/explore/king-lear/teachers-resources/themes.aspx Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear, from: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=kinglear&Scope=entire&pleasewait=1&msg=pl#a1,s1 SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on King Lear.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002, from: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear/citing.html Read More